


The Tudors, Season 1, Episode 7, Message to the Emperor

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: The Tudors (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s01e07 Message to the Emperor, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24320296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and the rest of the series. Complete.
Kudos: 8





	The Tudors, Season 1, Episode 7, Message to the Emperor

Open to William suffering from the sweating sickness. One servant sends another to fetch a physician.

When the physician arrives to sees William is sleeping, he informs them sleep can be fatal when it comes to the sweating sickness.

With them not knowing this, I don’t think they can be blamed for letting their writhing, incoherent master sleep if it might help with the pain.

He sends all but two of the servants away, and they attempt to treat William by cutting into his back.

Elsewhere, a carriage arrives at a castle. Inside, Wolsey is waiting as servants bustle around. A dressed up Joan appears, and yelling, Wolsey chases her away.

On one level, he knows Henry would never be interested in Joan. She’s too old, plump, and simple for Henry’s tastes.

To Wolsey, though, she’s beautiful, kind, and the mother of his children. He loves her, and he’s not willing to risk Henry taking her away the way he has everything else of importance to Wolsey. She’d never abandon Wolsey, but if Henry did take a sexual interest in her, there’d be nothing either of them could do about it.

Wolsey greets Henry and Anne, and the scene transitions to the three of them having a meal. They discuss how they’re now allies with the French, and it’s revealed the emperor has had a son. Anne mouths something to Henry. Gardiner is mentioned when Wolsey explains he’s sent him and another lawyer to meet the pope and convince him to do what Henry wants in regards to his marriage.

In the gardens at the palace, Catherine and the Spanish ambassador talk in Spanish while two women walk behind them. He assures her the emperor gives her his full support. Catherine orders the ladies to stay, and she and the ambassador continue walking. The emperor is trying to have Wolsey removed and strong-arm the pope into declaring the marriage legitimate.

At William’s, Anna comes to find William has died. She tearfully insists on seeing him despite the risk to herself. Unlike in the first episode, Anna reacts as a normal person would, and the actress does give a moving performance. However, this would be a lot more moving if the two of them had ever had an actual scene together.

Elsewhere, Wolsey is talking to the two lawyers about their journey. He tells them to use threats only if necessary.

Meanwhile, Thomas arrives to see the chaos near William’s place. Anna explains the servants stole most of his possessions, but she managed to hide something he bequeathed in his will to Henry. Sobbing, she tells him where William is buried.

Thomas makes no move to comfort her, but this isn’t unkindness on his part. He’s in the denial stage and trying to process everything.

At the graveyard, there are men and women digging.

Finding the grave, Thomas kneels down. Crying, he picks up a handful of dirt. “I don’t know what to say you,” he heartbreakingly states.

Standing up, he starts to leave. Then, turning back around, he smashes his instrument over the cross.

He knew he was in love; he just didn’t want to admit it. Now, he has to, but he’ll never get to admit it to William.

At court, Wolsey has Norfolk leave a card game to talk to him. Norfolk is being ordered away by Henry, and Norfolk angrily brings up the fact Wolsey is a butcher’s son. “As you see, my lord, these are not my orders,” Wolsey calmly answers before walking away.

Meanwhile, Henry, Charles Brandon, and Anthony stand over the box Anna saved. It’s a sweet moment of them commiserating their lost childhood friend.

The box doesn’t contain much, but one of the things it has is jewels. Henry decides they need to be returned to Anna.

It’s a nice sentiment, but I would have thought he’d send servants. I don’t think a servant’s life is less important than theirs is, but I’d think Henry would.

Instead, he decides to send Charles Brandon and Anthony, and amusingly revealing himself to be something of a pharmaceutical geek, he gives them a potion to drink to protect them from the sickness.

However, it turns out Anna is now dead. A servant sobbingly promises she’ll be buried next to William.

At the castle, Thomas is working on something, and the sisters reappear. He nicely asks them to leave, but when a light resembling a halo hits one of them, he stops them. He asks her name, and she answers, “Joan.”

Historically, Thomas Tallis married a woman named Joan. This will not be the case in this series for reasons I don’t understand.

He asks Joan to stay, and the other sister retreats with good grace despite her subtle hurt. Joan asks why Thomas asked her to stay, and he asks if most people judge her and her sister to be exactly the same. Saying he doesn’t, he explains about the halo he saw.

She deems him “weird”, and from what I’ve read, the context in which she uses the word didn’t exist during the Tudor era.

His response is to ask, “May I kiss you, Joan?”

She consents, and they kiss.

At an outdoor feast, Henry and Anne meet a French ambassador, and Anne shows off her French skills. She gives the ambassador a dog as a gift. In a bizarre moment, someone yells, “Go back to your wife!” and is chased by guards.

Later, Henry and Anne ride up to the palace, and there’s a smell of what Henry identifies as vinegar. A servant tries to rush Henry inside with the explaination there’s been an outbreak of the sweating sickness nearby. After ordering his physician fetched, Henry demands, “What about my wife? What about the Queen?” He continues expressing his worry towards Catherine, and then, turns around to yell for Anne not to be afraid. He orders George to take her to her chambers.

Inside, Henry fearfully gulps down pills and the infusion from earlier.

Next, Henry’s physician explains many people make unintentionally make themselves sick by hearing rumours about the sweating sickness and becoming afraid of catching it. The physician advises a proper diet and exercise are the best preventative measures a person can take.

In a village, masked people take the dead. One woman sobbingly tries to hold on to a lost one.

Meanwhile, Henry joins Catherine in mass.

At More’s, he informs his family the plague is a punishment from God. Declaring whether they live or die entirely in God’s hands, he says all they can do is pray. He leads a prayer.

Elsewhere, Charles Brandon and someone who isn’t Margaret are having rough sex.

In Anne’s room, she notices a servant pausing in her movements. Firm but kind, she inquires, “Child, what is it?” The servant says she felt dizzy, and opening her arms, Anne says, “Well, come here.”

Refusing, the servant says she still feels dizzy. She realises in fear she’s caught the sweat, but coming over, Anne gently assures her it’s just a headache. The servant insists, and as another servant backs away, Anne follows the fearful one to the ground to grab her face. Insisting the servant won’t die, she makes soothing noises as she hugs her.

However, the servant has a screaming fit.

I really like this scene. This is something I can believe the historical Anne Boleyn would do. She could be calculating and sometimes did and said regretful things in the heat of passion, but from what I understand, she was also a genuinely warm person who cared about people regardless of whether they were above or below her in station.

At the castle, Henry reads a letter about the servant’s death. He tells Wolsey he wants to see Anne, and not unreasonably, Wolsey counsels against it. He points out Henry needs to stay as far away from all places and people the sickness has been near. Henry heartbreakingly wonders what happens if Anne dies, and I give JRM credit. Despite knowing how Anne eventually dies, I still find myself feeling for both him and Anne.

Steeling himself, he decides to send Anne to her home. He’ll write to her and send her infusions. Wolsey asks about Catherine, and Henry plans to send her to where Mary is. He genuinely states his hope they’ll both be safe there.

Henry himself plans to stay, and Wolsey advises him to avoid people as much as possible.

Next, Henry goes to where Catherine is supervising her ladies packing. He says he came to stay goodbye, and Catherine asks if he’s staying because of Anne. Telling her about sending Anne away, he truthfully says he’s not sleeping with her, but his implication he’s doing it out of respect for Catherine rather than due to Anne’s refusal is obviously false.

Catherine asks if Henry and Anne declare their love for another and make promises to each other. Reaching over, he says, though he wishes Catherine would accept the invalidity of their marriage, “I still love you enough to want to save your life.” Ordering her to do as he commands, he kisses her cheek.

Still hoping, a smiling Catherine reaches out for him. “When you speak like that, my love-”

However, he’s already leaving.

In a carriage, Anne and Boleyn are riding, but Anne realises she’s sick. Demanding the carriage be stopped, in an effort to try to save her father, she gets out, and through her tears, starts walking.

Meanwhile, masked men carry out Joan. The actress opens her eyes and moves, but I do think the character is supposed to be dead when she’s placed on the wagon. Thomas comforts the other sister.

At the castle, Henry has a dream of maggots invading his food, and jumping up, he immediately starts exercising. This naturally confuses the page who was sleeping at the foot of his bed.

In a confessional, Henry asks some thoughtful theological questions, expresses worry God is punishing people due to him, and asks for forgiveness and a blessing from the priest not as a king but as a man. When he receives no answer, he goes around to where the priest should be to see a brief apparition of an unnaturally pale, hooded man.

Meanwhile, in Orvieto, Italy, Gardiner and Fox meet the pope. He reveals some people think Anne is already pregnant and Henry wishes to make **her** child his heir. One of them assures the pope Anne is a model of chastity. He continues building her up, and if this is Gardiner, I find the irony amusing. Stalling, the pope says he needs to read all of the arguments. When one of them says Henry will go outside of church law if forced, the pope laughs before kissing both men on the cheek.

Back in England, Henry’s writing to Anne when a stumbling servant boy falls at his feet. He hurries away, and there’s a transition to him and some men riding away on horseback with their mouths covered.

There’s an editing goof where, at one point, Henry has a full face covering, and then, he’s back to simply having his mouth covered.

In Italy, the pope says, as soon as the sickness passes in England, he’s sending one of his men to set up a court with Wolsey. It will decide on the divorce/annulment.

The next scene has Henry receiving a letter from Wolsey. The sickness is getting worst. It’s mentioned Norfolk’s caught it, too. Over Wolsey’s VO, Wolsey himself shows signs of the sickness, and there’s a shot of people being buried in a mass grave. The letter gets to the part about Anne.

Calling for the physician, Henry orders him to go to the Boleyn home at once to help her.

There’s a shot of a suffering Wolsey on the ground.

At the Boleyn house, George and Boleyn are praying. Coming out, the physician says there’s no hope for Anne.

As I’ve said before, I hate this version of George, and I’m insulted on the historical George Boleyn’s behalf. However, I don’t blame Padraic Delaney, and he does do a good job at occasionally giving George sympathetic moments of humanity such as in this scene. When the physician leaves, George clings tightly to his father.

At the More home, More wins Father of the Year by ignoring his scared daughter’s subtle need for reassurance. According to him, the unrepentant are afraid of death. He goes on a spiel about how Lutheranism is worse than the sweating sickness. Pointing out it spreads amongst the poor, he correctly cites the reasons, but of course, instead of blaming the church for being corrupt, he blames the people who refuse to accept its corruption. Bringing up his supposed belief in non-violence, he concludes Lutheranism must be purged with fire by burning both Luther and Lutherans.

Meanwhile, Henry receives a letter from More about Wolsey’s sickness, the lack of government, and the fact there have been some riots in the cities. Henry looks at his reflection in the window, and it turns into the apparition he saw earlier. Next, he supposedly wakes up in the morning to find Anne lying dead next to him. Again, the apparition appears.

However, Anne has survived the sickness. George is genuinely happy. So is Boleyn, but after thanking God, he continues, “Do you know what you’ve done, child? You’ve risen from the dead. Now, you can see the king, again.”

Does he ever think of anything but his own advancement?

Henry has a VO of a letter to Anne, and there’s a scene of him riding happily.

In the next scene, Wolsey is recovering, and Joan comes in with a letter from Anne. Sitting down, she puts a hand on his leg, and he puts his hand over it. Showing her own happiness, she reads Anne is happy he’s recovered and also promises to repay the kindness he’s shown someday.

Wolsey is vaguely amused. Then, tenderly putting his hand on Joan’s cheek, he tells her to arrange his pilgrimage so he can go thank Anne.

There’s a shot of William’s grave, and then, everyone is at a mass of remembrance. Henry places his hand over Catherine’s, and she holds it in hers. With tears in his eyes, Thomas conducts the singing boys.

The last scene is of Henry riding to Anne. They passionately kiss, and he thanks God.

Fin.


End file.
